G. W. Lamplugh — The Boulder-clay at Bridlington. 397 



dispersed in the clay, with here and there a patch of fine soft clay, 

 entirely free from stones. 



The abundance of boulders, of a size much above the average, 

 was another striking feature. I noticed this fact, and the difference 

 in the appearance of the clay, long before I even suspected the 

 presence of freshwater remains. The blocks, a great number of 

 which were from 1-| to 2 ft. long, by about one foot in height 

 and breadth, were chiefly Carboniferous, and were therefore far- 

 travelled. The proportion of blocks from rocks in the district, was 

 surprisingly low ; in fact, they were well-nigh absent. Carbon- 

 iferous Limestone was recognizable by its fossils, also Millstone- 

 grit, Gannister, Basalt, and Carboniferous Sandstone, — the latter 

 being particularly abundant. In one place on the beach, so thickly 

 were these blocks scattered, that, over an extent of nearly sixty 

 square yards, one might step from one to another. 



Many of the blocks had their angles wonderfully preserved ; and 

 such of them as were of flattened shape, were frequently tilted at 

 high angles or even set on edge in the clay. From the character of 

 the majority of the boulders, but few had retained scratches. I 

 noticed, however, a few examples. One mass of hard chalk 11 in. by 

 8 in., which showed well-preserved markings, was scored by two 

 distinct sets of scratches ; the older ones, running east and west, 

 being crossed at right angles by others, running north and south. 

 This cross-scratching was also observable in many of the instances 

 in which markings were preserved. I could not find that the longer 

 axes of the stones preserved any definite direction, though, in one or 

 two instances, it agreed with the direction of the chief set of 

 scratches ; notably, in the case of one large boulder of Mountain 

 Limestone, which was partially buried in the foot of the cliff, and 

 which had a length of 3 feet, by about 2 feet in breadth and height. 

 In this case, the scratchings and longer axis both ran N.W. and S.E. 



I have seen the clay showing these peculiarities, exposed on the 

 beach over an extent 160 yards in length, by about 30 in width 

 (see section). To the north, it is bounded by the Middle Laminated 

 clay, as shown in the section, which here rises above the level of 

 high tide, and to the south by the " Basement " clay, on which it in 

 great part rests, the Laminated bed being absent for some distance 

 south of Sands Cottage. The "Basement" clay, therefore, directly 

 underlies, in many places, the clay just described, and cuts it off 

 from the beach when it rises to the cliff-line opposite the Alexandra 

 Hotel. 



The Boulder-clay which contained the freshwater remains, con- 

 tained also a few very small fragments of marine shells of the usual 

 Boulder-clay species ; an interesting point, as it is clear that Limncea 

 and Tellina could not live in the same place, at the same time. Yet 

 here they occurred on the same horizon of the same bed. There 

 was this difference, however, between their positions ; that whereas 

 the freshwater shells were mostly perfect, and were still surrounded 

 by their own proper matrix, the marine shells were in minute 

 fragments, and were scattered through Boulder-clay. The latter 

 have therefore probably been the travellers. 



